Record or not, Vonn to retire after 2018-19 season

Lindsey Vonn (pictured March 2018), a four-time overall World Cup champion and a three-time Olympic medalist, has 82 World Cup victories -- four shy of Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark's record of 86
AFP/File

Lindsey Vonn says the 2018-19 World Cup ski season will be her last, whether she breaks the all-time record for victories or not.

Vonn, a four-time overall World Cup champion and three-time Olympic medalist has 82 World Cup victories -- four shy of Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark's record of 86.

"If I get it, that would be a dream come true," Vonn told NBC Sports on Thursday in New York. "If I don't, I think I've had an incredibly successful career no matter what. I'm still the all-time winningest female skier."

Vonn, who turns 34 next Thursday, said at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February that she was "not going to quit" until she broke Stenmark's record "no matter how much pain I'm in".

But the superstar, who has battled through numerous injuries, now says she has to look beyond her skiing career.

"Physically, I've gotten to the point where it doesn't make sense," she said. "I really would like to be active when I'm older, so I have to look to the future and not just be so focused on what's in front of me."

Vonn is scheduled to launch her final World Cup season at Lake Louise in December and said she plans to enter every women's World Cup downhill and Super-G until she breaks the record.